UK’s newest national park could deal with 4,000 planning applications a year | Europe | News

 

Some 4,000 planning applications a year are expected for the South Downs, the UK’s newest national park which officially comes into being on Friday (April 01).

One of the largest and most complex duties of the Downs National Park Authority will be to direct and control development in the National Park. Southampton planning and urban design consultancy Turley Associates, understands that the new authority could receive some 4,000 applications every year, making it the eighth largest planning authority in the UK.

The size of the South Downs National Park is impressive, extending across 1,650 square kilometres and with more than 100,000 living within its boundaries. The Park extends across 15 local authorities, from Winchester in the west to Eastbourne in the east. Close to eight million people live within one hour of its boundaries, points out Stuart Irvine, associate director, Turley Associates.

‘The Park authority will from 1 April take responsibility for all development within its boundaries. We estimate that the Authority will receive 4,000 applications a year, making it almost twice the size of authorities such as Liverpool and Manchester in terms of applications processed and four times the size of the New Forest National Park,’ he said.

The South Downs National Park is unique amongst the UK’s 15 other national parks in that its landscape is and continues to be shaped by man’s activities and that it includes some large towns and villages, including 16,000 people living in Lewes and 13,000 people living in Petersfield.

‘A more flexible planning policy will be needed in the South Downs National Park when compared to other parks to foster economic and social well-being, particularly in these larger settlements,’ explained Irvine.

Unlike the UK’s other National Parks, the South Downs National Park Authority’s legal responsibility for determining the majority of its planning applications will be delegated to the 15 local authorities that fall within its boundaries.

‘The South Downs National Park Authority will effectively pay local authorities for the services they provide and in effect, the current process of lodging applications will remain unchanged. This is a practical and sensible solution,’ said Irvine but he added that the South Downs National Park Authority will however determine ‘significant’ applications.

‘The Authority has provided some initial guidelines on what it considers significant, but not any specific guidance. It appears that a flexible case by case approach will be taken. We expect the Park Authority to consider about 150 applications a year to be significant,’ he added.

Significant will typically mean schemes of more than 29 dwellings or 1,000 square meters of commercial floor space within urban areas, but outside of the main settlements, it will also include schemes of three or more dwellings.  Other forms of development, such as tourist accommodation, renewable energy scheme and proposals that involve significant external lighting are also likely to be considered as significant.

‘Developers may face uncertainty as to whether their scheme is considered to be significant, potentially a very late stage, with firm guidance only being given once an application is made. This creates uncertainty and developers would be advised to include the Park Authority in any discussions at the pre-application stage if they believe it might be considered significant,’ Irvine added.

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